These ETFs target ‘responsible’ investing

Article Excerpt

Over the last few years, more and more ETF managers have launched funds focused on taking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into account. Sustainable investing offers some investors a lot of conceptual and emotional appeal. But does investing in these kind of stocks hurt your portfolio returns? Yes and no. One way investing in sustainable ETFs can hurt performance is the ethical criteria used could keep investors out of promising stocks with the power to boost your long-term portfolio returns. At the same time, that criteria may also encourage the ETF managers to include stocks that score high in sustainability but lower in key financial measures. However, on the other hand, big institutional investors are increasingly seeking out companies with high ESG scores. That means that ETFs holding these ESG stocks will gain—especially if those stocks are strong companies with sound prospects in their own right. Meanwhile, in the Supplement on page 20, we consider some of the latest studies and data regarding…